hate crime

noun

: any of various crimes (such as assault or defacement of property) when motivated by hostility to the victim as a member of a group (such as one based on color, creed, gender, or sexual orientation)

Examples of hate crime in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Listen to this article The mother of a Black teen targeted in a bias attack at the Coney Island-Stillwell Ave. subway station spoke out Friday, demanding that all the teens involved be arrested for gang assault and a hate crime. —Ellen Moynihan, New York Daily News, 28 Mar. 2025

What Toner is alleged to have done was deliberate and vile, and because young Asian females were targeted, some are even calling it a hate crime. —Wendy Murphy, Boston Herald, 27 Mar. 2025

Other prevention initiatives in jeopardy at the Justice Department include grant programs related to hate crimes training, which has been in demand with recent unrest on college campuses. —Hannah Allam, ProPublica, 20 Mar. 2025

Fulton County prosecutors are also seeking harsher sentencing under Georgia's hate crime law. —Thomas Wheatley, Axios, 14 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1960, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for hate crime

• aforetime
• allozyme
• anytime
• christmastime
• cybercrime
• dinnertime
• guggenheim
• isozyme
• lysozyme
• maritime
• mesenchyme
• overtime

Kids Definition

hate crime

noun

plural hate crimes

: any of various crimes (as assault) when motivated by hostility to the victim based on social characteristics (as color, creed, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin)

Legal Definition

hate crime

noun

: a crime that violates the victim's civil rights and that is motivated by hostility to the victim's race, religion, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender